Salman Rushdie Attacker Convicted of Terrorism Charges: US Justice Dept
NEW YORK: A federal jury on Wednesday found novelist Salman Rushdie’s attacker guilty of “committing an act of terrorism” for a bloody attack on a New York cultural center in August 2022.
Hadi Matar, a 28-year-old Lebanese American, “chose to align his values with the terrorist values of Iran’s leaders,” U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said, adding that the defendant planned for months to stab Rushdie, which nearly killed him and blinded him in one eye.
Matar was also found guilty of supporting the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah after investigators found material belonging to the organization in his home.
Federal prosecutors say Matar was first described in 1989 by the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in his best-selling book “The Satanic Verses.” He said that he was following the fatwa that called for the execution of Rushdie for fictionalizing Muhammad.
Prosecutors said the fatwa was reapproved by Iran’s late religious leader Ali Khamenei in 2017 and was also approved by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a 2006 speech.
“His brutal attack on Mr. Rushdie during a peaceful speaking event is a chilling reminder of the global reach of Iranian terrorism,” DiGiacomo said.
The attack took place at Chautauqua Institution in Mayville, New York, during a free speech conference; where Matar, then 24, jumped on stage and stabbed Rushdie multiple times with a six-inch knife.
Matar had already been convicted of attempted murder by the New York state justice system and sentenced to 25 years in prison, and now faces an additional maximum federal sentence of life in prison.
He is expected to be sentenced on November 3.
Before his hearings, Matar told a reporter that he believed Rushdie was “attacking Islam.”
Rushdie lived in seclusion in London for a decade after the 1989 fatwa, but lived a relatively normal life in New York for the 20 years leading up to the attack.
In 2026, Rushdie said violence was a tool of “unscrupulous people using the ignorant” to attack culture.
“For the authoritarian, culture is the enemy. Whether it is journalism, the university, music or writing,” Rushdie said. “The uncultured, ignorant and radicals do not like this and are taking steps against it, which we see every day.”
